Slashdot videos: Now with more Slashdot!

View

Discuss

Share

We've improved Slashdot's video section; now you can view our video interviews, product close-ups and site visits with all the usual Slashdot options to comment, share, etc. No more walled garden! It's a work in progress -- we hope you'll check it out (Learn more about the recent updates).

hype7 writes "Harvard Business Review is running an article on the criminal justice system, and how what happened to Aaron Swartz isn't just an example of a "rogue prosecutor", but rather, a function of something that Aaron was fighting against — the influence of money in politics. From TFA: I simply don't know how else to explain the huge disparity in how justice was sought in these very different cases — other than regulatory capture. It seems you can get away with laundering money for the drug cartels, so long as you've been generous with the those responsible for appointing district attorneys; or better yet, if your industry has paid to undo all the regulation that prevents you from getting too big to fail. Similarly, when your lobby has been helping Congress draft the laws that govern food, drugs, and cosmetics, you can make sure that the federal sentencing guidelines are only six months should you breach the responsible corporate officer doctrine. This in turn means you can inject unsafe cement into people's spines with relative impunity. But woe betide you if, in the name of openness and sharing human knowledge, you decide to download academic journals. Because that sounds a lot like piracy — and we all know how much has been spent to stamp that scourge out."Link to Original Source

The American justice system is corrupted because the Americans let it be.

The Constitution of the United States has spelled it out very clearly that it is the duty of the American Citizens to ensure that their government - which the justice system is a part of - is not corrupted.

The fact that the American government, along with the justice system is corrupted, is because the Americans allow that to happen.

If the Americans do not want their government to be corrupt, they are duty-bound to change it.

Let's see, he was repeatedly blocked from accessing the journals, he actively engaged in circumventing the measures put in place to block his access and then ultimately he broke into the wiring closet of school where he was not a registered student to physically connect into the network he knew he was no longer allowed to use. I'd say that qualifies as a corrupt person for sure. Then he pussed out rather than face the consequences of his actions. And if you really, really believe he would have faced 35 year